By law, employers must as far as reasonably practicable, protect persons at work. Workers and other persons like visitors, contractors and suppliers have the right to be protected from harm caused by failure to take reasonable and practicable control measures. The employer or user of machinery is obligated by law to take the necessary steps in order to provide a safe and health work environment.

In order to provide a safe and health work environment the employer or user of machinery should evaluate the risk attached to any condition or situation which may arise from their work activities.

Section 8(2) (d) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) stipulates that the employer must establish, as far as is reasonably practicable, what hazards to the health or safety of persons are attached to any work which is performed. The section also stipulates that employers must establish what precautionary measures should be taken in order to protect the health and safety of persons and provide the necessary means to apply such precautionary measures.

It is evident that work related hazards and risks needs to be identified in order to establish the necessary precautionary measures. A risk assessment could prove to be a valuable tool in this regard. It could basically be described as a careful examination of what, related to the work activities of an organisation, could course harm to people or damage to property.

During the risk assessment process we identify the hazards associated with an activity (physical task, or process at hand), to assess the seriousness of these hazards and to formulate systems of work, training or other methods (controls) to eliminate or reduce the associated risk to a minimum or at least to an acceptable level.

General Safety Regulations 2 of the OHS Act provides minim standard legislation in this regard. It elaborates on the matter by stipulating that the employer must provide the necessary equipment and facilities to ensure that any person exposed to hazards and risks at a workplace or on the premises or in the course of employment where machinery is used, is safe.

The regulation also stipulates that where it is not practicable to safeguard the condition or situation, the employer or user of machinery, shall take steps to reduce the risk as much as is practicable.

Please note that the main aim should be to firstly remove or secondly mitigating the risk associated with the exposure to a particular hazard. If the hazard or risk cannot be removed, the next potion would be to apply appropriate steps or measures to mitigate it.

PPE should be used when it has been determined that its use will lessen the likelihood of occupational injury and/or illness and when other protection methods are not available.

PPE is used to reduce or minimize the exposure or contact to injurious physical, chemical, ergonomic, or biological agents. PPE basically creates a barrier against workplace hazards.

A hazard cannot be eliminated by PPE, but the risk of injury can be reduced. For example, wearing hearing protection reduces the likelihood of hearing damage when the ear plugs or muffs are appropriate for the kind of noise exposure and they are used properly. However, hearing protection does not eliminate the noise.

Engineering controls, administrative controls, and good work practices are always preferred instead of personal protective equipment (PPE) as methods to protect workers against workplace hazards. PPE must always be regarded as a ‘‘last resort’’ to protect against risks to safety and health.

There are a number of reasons why PPE must be considered as a ‘‘last resort’’:

1. PPE only protects the person wearing it, whereas measures controlling the risk at source protect everyone in the workplace
2. theoretical maximum levels of protection are difficult to achieve and the actual level of protection is difficult to assess. Effective protection is only achieved by selecting suitable PPE and if it is correctly fitted, maintained and used
3. PPE may restrict the wearer to some extent by limiting mobility or visibility, or by requiring additional weight to be carried, thus creating additional risk.

Source: http://www.labourguide.co.za/most-re...ign=art%2Freps

Part 2 to follow.